1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for the elimination of toxic substances by irreversible substance decomposition and to an apparatus for performing this process, particularly a burner tip or head specially constructed for this purpose.
2. Summary of the Related Art
In a known process for converting waste materials, which contain thermally decomposable, chemical substances, into end products such as CO.sub.2, CO, H.sub.2 O, etc., the waste substances are exposed to a hot plasma gas, in such a way that in the reaction zone an oxygen potential is maintained such that the decomposition products can be continuously converted into the aforementioned end products. The waste materials are passed through a reaction zone heated to at least 2000.degree. C. and which is constituted by a groove or channel in a gas-permeable, lumpy charge of a reactor chamber, namely a charge formed from at least partly carbon-containing material. The period of time duping which the reactants remain in the reaction zone in the known process, is only a few milliseconds, whereas the period of time during which the charge materials remain in the residual charge of the reactor chamber is between 1 and 5 seconds. If the waste materials are in the gaseous state, they are partly or completely mixed with the plasma gas and are otherwise brought into the reactor reaction zone in solid form or in the form of a liquid by means of a carrier gas. In this known process the reactor chamber is located in a conventional coke furnace shaft, in which, by means of a blast furnace throat, lumpy, carbon-containing material is supplied in the form of coke or the like. It must be ensured that within the complete reactor chamber there is a substantially constant gas upcurrent for the lower burner gases, so as to be able to ensure uniform thermal conditions for the complete reaction processes. The waste materials to be destroyed are fed into the reactor chamber by means of supply presses over its floor and there are temperatures of approximately 1370.degree. C. in a preheating zone. The waste materials are subsequently passed through a reaction zone heated to at least 2000.degree. C., the plasma arc being directed onto the carbon-containing, gas-permeable reactor chamber charge.